Tenants of the building directly behind Saturday night’s explosion are still shaken up

New
York Mayor Bill de Blasio meets with residents at Visions at
Selis Manor, a rehabilitation center for the blind in Chelsea,
three days after an explosion in the neighborhood wounded 29 in
the Manhattan borough of New York, U.S. on September 20,
2016.Reuters/Alex
Wroblewski

When a
bomb exploded in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood
Saturday evening, tenants of the nearby residence for the blind
found themselves particularly vulnerable on an already frenzied
night.

Selis Manor, the building
directly behind the dumpster the bomb was placed in, houses
hundreds of residents with various visual impairments. Unable to
navigate the scene of the explosion, many of the residents opted
to stay put while chaos erupted around them.

"Some of us thought it was thunder. I knew it wasn't thunder,"
resident Sharon Joyner told Business Insider on Tuesday.

Joyner, who has lived in Selis Manor for about 30 years, said she
initially thought the blast was construction-related, and wasn't
corrected until bomb squad members entered the building and
identified themselves.

She, like many of the tenants, had been playing bingo in the
conference room when the blast rocked the manor, blowing out
upper-story windows and bringing down some of the scaffolding
outside.

The suspect in the bombing,
Ahmad Khan Rahami, was arrested Monday. But for Selis Manor
residents, some of the fear from Saturday night still lingers.

A
view of a mangled dumpster at the site of an explosion that
occurred on Saturday night in the Chelsea neighborhood of New
York, USA, September 18, 2016.Reuters/Pool

On Tuesday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio visited Selis
Manor. He praised first responders, reassured Joyner and her
fellow tenants that the city will stay in touch with them, and
ignored questions shouted at him from reporters.

"You've got a strong-willed group of residents here," de Blasio
told the group, before heading to a nearby diner.

But Joyner pointed out that Saturday wasn't the first time she's
felt fearful for her safety in Chelsea.

She said a recent slashing in the neighborhood put residents on
edge, and she herself has been harassed by homeless people —
Selis Manor is two blocks south of a shelter.

"We would like to have more officers," she told reporters after
de Blasio left. "Especially in the evenings — we have to walk our
dogs … We have to come out, and we're concerned."